Fate/Incarnate

Backed into a corner during the Sound-Sand invasion, Sarutobi Hiruzen's summoning jutsu goes awry against his traitorous student Orochimaru. Instead of his oldest ally Monkey King Enma, a different spirit answers his call – a spirit from the Throne of Heroes. For a world trapped in a cursed cycle of war, perhaps what the shinobi system needs most is the touch of a magus…

The midday sun reflected off of the purple barrier enrapturing Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Third Hokage of Konohagakure, trapping him in pitched combat with his wayward student. The two men were standing on opposite sides of a long rooftop, a bamboo construct built in Konoha's favored style of architecture.

Hiruzen let out a cough of blood as he glared at Konoha's most infamous traitor who was currently smirking in an insufferably self-satisfied manner.

"Even if I fall here, another will rise in my place to defend Konoha", growled the aged warrior.

"Kukukuku", chuckled Orochimaru as he waved towards the advancing invasion and carnage in the background, "then where are your heroes now, Sensei?"

Hiruzen grimaced as he leveled his staff towards Orochimaru.

"That's neither here nor there. My only solace is that I had the foresight to pass you over in favor of the Fourth all of those years ago…"

Orochimaru's eyes narrowed at the slight, "And look where Namikaze Minato is now – dead, buried alongside the rest of your precious village.

The Snake Sannin continued, "Looking back, leaving Konoha was the best thing that could have happened to me. While you've been trapped by the duties of your position, I've been travelling the world uncovering secrets you could only dream of..."

Hiruzen could only watch in horror as Orochimaru then clasped his hands together in a forbidden seal.

Kuchiyose no Jutsu: Edo Tensei!

Three coffins rose into existence as if answering the call of their summoner, and emblazoned on each coffin were the kanji respectively denoting – First, Second, and Fourth.

"I can't let him finish the technique", thought Hiruzen in desperation.

Flaring his chakra, the aged Sandaime focused on sealing the summoning of the coffins.

To his displeasure, he was only able to stop the final of the three coffins.

The battlefield was silent as the remaining two coffins opened. From the first coffin, a tanned man cloaked in red armor stepped out into Hiruzen's line of view. And from the second coffin, he was quickly joined by a man with snow-white hair who was adjusting his own set of ocean-blue battle armor.

"Impossible! They're standing right in front of me, my old mentors and previous Hokage, the Senju brothers themselves!", examined Hiruzen.

Hashirama shrugged his shoulders as he noticed Hiruzen standing on the opposite side of the rooftop, "Is that you, Hiruzen? How many years has it been?"

Tobirama turned around to glare at Orochimaru, "Making tools of the dead… nothing good has ever come of playing with time."

Hiruzen bowed his head at his predecessors, "One last time, I will protect this village that you two have entrusted to me. Even if that means taking you both down with Orochimaru!"

Hashirama sighed as he gazed at the smoke and bloodshed in the village around him, "No matter how much the world changes, there is always fighting, isn't there Sarutobi?"

Hiruzen settled into a battle-ready stance in response as Orochimaru formed a hand-seal causing the eyes of the Senju brothers to glaze over.

"They're under my control completely", gloated Orochimaru, "Truly, it's poetic that this village will fall by the hands of the men who built it from ground-up."

The Edo Tensei was a unique technique even amongst the more esoteric branches of ninjutsu. While normally a summoning technique requires the user's blood as a conduit to the spiritual realm, the Edo Tensei requires an entire corpse to hold reanimated souls. Under the contract between summoner and sacrifice, souls can be restored briefly from the pure realm in perfect condition – a spirit's power was determined by the life that soul live. As the Shodaime and Nidaime Hokage, the incarnations of the Senju brothers had returned at the apex of their legendary strengths now wielded by Orochimaru.

Hiruzen flared his chakra imbuing it with an elemental transformation.

Fire Release: Fire Dragon Napalm!

He felt his lungs expand to full capacity as he exhaled a flurry of fireballs at the re-animated Hokages.

Senju Tobirama took a step forward raising his arms around him drawing water out from the very atmosphere itself.

Water Release: Waterfall Barrier

A deluge of water shimmered into existence shielding the Senju brothers from the barrage of fireballs pelting them.

Taking advantage of the distraction, Hiruzen leapt forwards with the agility of a shinobi five decades younger.

Launching a roundhouse kick at Tobirama, he simultaneously expelled a burst of chakra at Hashirama to prevent the man from aiding his brother.

Tobirama sprang into action as Hiruzen's attack grazed his forehead protector. Backpedaling warily, he raised his arms defensively to grapple with the aged Sarutobi.

In a feat of inhuman grace, Hiruzen pivoted his center of gravity using Tobirama's shoulder as a fulcrum. He swung around the Nidaime delivering a mortal blow to the back of Tobirama's neck and pushed off of the corpse to spring backwards to a safe distance.

Tobirama didn't even flinch as he took the blow and stared at Hiruzen silently while grasping his own neck to forcefully reset the bones into place.

Meanwhile, Orochimaru laughed at Hiruzen's efforts, "Pure souls summoned from the Edo Tensei cannot be damaged. Any wounds they sustain in the mortal realm will simply be regenerated instantly."

Hiruzen froze as he heard Senju Hashirama's voice flow across the battlefield.

Wood Release: Forest Genesis!

"This is the hidden nature transformation that only the Shodaime could use!" recalled Hiruzen.

Trees began erupting from the buildings underneath the combat as an entire forest sprang into existence in mere seconds.

Hiruzen was forced to dodge backwards to avoid being speared by wandering tendrils of tree branches. Every attempt he made to approach the Senju brothers was immediately stopped by the forest surrounding him.

As he drew too close to a tangle of roots, a wayward branch caught his ankle causing him to falter for a split second. In that moment of hesitation, an entire knot of tree roots had wrapped around his body encasing him in a wooden prison.

The Senju brothers slowly walked forwards to where the tangle of tree roots were slowly suffocating Hiruzen's trapped form.

"It can't end like this", thought Hiruzen desperately,"If the reanimated Hokage are turned upon the village, it will spell the end for the Hidden Leaf…"

Flaring chakra from his deepest reserves, Hiruzen formed the hand seal to break out of the knot of tree roots and perform his own summoning technique.

"And so I pray… Lend me your strength to help me protect my people!"

Kuchiyose no Jutsu: Monkey King Enma!

oOoOoOo

Alaya awakened from her slumber as she felt a disruption from the mortal realm.

As the spirit called on by the counterforce, Alaya only awoke when the world needed her most to defend it from extinction. The concept of the counterforce had always been essential to humanity; it represented the balance between the will of the earth, Gaia, and the spirit of humanity, Alaya.

Humans in their ever-expanding arrogance had once again pushed the boundaries of their mortal plane too far. Alaya looked on in curiosity as she absorbed information on the current age of man and their self-destructive spiral into war and depravity.

Satisfied with what she had gleaned, she sent out a summons for one of her servants.

Golden prana erupted from the air in front of her as a red-headed man clad in a mesh-suit emerged out of spiritual energy.

Alaya turned to address the newcomer.

"EMIYA. Although, you've only just arrived to the counterforce from the Throne of Heroes, I already find myself in need of your services. By the bounds of your contract, I order you to return to the mortal plane to correct the disruption in the pure world that I sense."

The summoned servant eyed his mistress with distaste, "Don't call me EMIYA, that's the name of an old acquaintance I try not to think about anymore. Call me Shirou."

Alaya nodded absently in return, "I will be transporting your spirit back into the mortal coil. Information about the current era will be provided by the counterforce. Return here immediately upon completing your assignment."

And with that, an enormous surge of spiritual energy erupted from Alaya as she harnessed the divinity inside of her to bend the fabric of space itself.

Shirou closed his eyes as Alaya's power flowed over him in a cocoon of crystallized prana.

As he felt reality warping around him, he could faintly hear voices in the ether around him that emanated from the unconscious will of humanity.

Latching onto the strongest wish in the void, Shirou was caught by the sincerity of the words.

"And so I pray... Lend me your strength to help me protect my people!"

Nodding to himself, Shirou reached towards the wish and drew his blade before vanishing into the ether to his newest deployment.

oOoOoOo

The instant Hiruzen cast his summoning technique, he knew something had gone awry. Instead of the characteristic plume of smoke that announced the arrival of Monkey King Enma, a flash of red light erupted from the floor in front of him.

An intricate seal inscribed itself into the ground as golden sparks began to erupt in the very air before him. Slowly, the form of a red-clad warrior gripping a twin set of blades shimmered into existence before Hiruzen. Dusting off his mesh battle-armor from shoulder down, the man turned to address Hiruzen while keeping an eye on his surroundings.

"By the contract of Alaya herself, I ask of you, are you my Master?" queried the ethereal spirit.

Hiruzen paused, puzzled by the question. "I'm not sure what's going on, but I must ask for your aid in combat, Master Swordsman."

"Then my blade shall be yours" smiled the red swordsman. "Please call me Shirou."

Hiruzen nodded in appreciation, "Likewise, call me Hiruzen." as he settled into a battle-stance facing the approaching Senju brothers.

Shirou eyed the world around him, old battle instincts flaring into action.

"The presence of Gaia is weak here… I can sense little resistance to magecraft and its derivatives which will be an enormous boon to my fighting capabilities. The atmosphere is so saturated with prana that I likely won't even need to form a formal contract with a Master to sustain myself..."

Assessing the threats in front of him, Shirou turned to Hiruzen, "I'll hold off the two in front of us, you go take care of their summoner over there" he said gesturing towards Orochimaru in the distance.

Hiruzen nodded and lithely hopped across the trees scattering the battlefield as Shirou pointed his blades at the Senju brothers.

When Tobirama moved to intercept Hiruzen, he felt a blade ripping through his back pinning him against a tree. Unable to feel pain, he only stared at the outstretched hand of the newcomer swordsman."

Shirou watched in morbid curiosity as Tobirama bare-handedly ripped the blade out of his abdomen allowing to wound to rapidly close soon after.

"Is he some kind of dead apostle or vampiric undead?" wondered Shirou to himself, "Even amongst the The Twenty-Seven Ancestors, that level of regeneration would be impressive.

Willing his blade to return to him, the discarded Kanshou spun and returned itself to Shirou's hand as if pulled by a magnetic force.

Shirou's favored set of twin blades were a C-rank Noble Phantasm when paired together. Crystallized into their own legend, they were the work of a master swordsmith who had forged the blades in the grief of his wife's suicide. Having imbued his entire spirit into the blades, the swordsmith died shortly after completing his masterpiece. And thus, the married blades Kanshou and Bakuya are said to always return to one another no matter how far apart they're separated.

Shirou turned to face his other opponent who had been silent until now.

Wood Release: Forest Dragon

Hashirama entered the fray riding atop a colossal wooden dragon as the technique crashed down upon Shirou's position.

Activating his magical circuits, Shirou reinforced his entire body as he braced himself for collision against the incoming missile. The wooden dragon slammed into Shirou who gritted his teeth in pain as the blunt force forced him backwards.

Reversing his momentum, Shirou jumped forwards to engage Hashirama in direct combat when a wave of water crashed into his side revealing a recovered Tobirama.

The Senju brothers simultaneously dashed forwards to press their advantage as Shirou shook his head to combat the disorientating blow.

Hashirama reached Shirou first and let out a series of jabs at the redhead's ribcage.

In a feat of master swordsmanship, Shirou pulled Kanshou backwards to defend himself while delivering a jagged cut across Hashirama's arm with Bakuya. The undead Hokage didn't even blink as the blade bit into his flesh and retaliated by summoning a few tendrils of wooden spears from the ground beneath them.

Shirou disengaged his opponent to avoid being impaled and threw Bakuya at Hashirama to disrupt his jutsu. He then turned just in time to defend against Tobirama's arrival with his remaining blade Kanshou.

Spinning on his heel, Shirou called Bakuya back to him as the blade arced towards his outstretched hand. Plucking the twin blade out of the air, he severed the surprised Tobirama's leg at the knee and smashed Kanshou into the white-haired man's chest.

Forced to let go of the blades, Shirou ducked Hashirama's next attack as the tanned Senju pressed Shirou backwards to buy time for his brother to recover.

Moments after regenerating his leg, Tobirama kicked off from the ground forming a hand-seal in the air.

Water Release: Rampaging Current

A monstrous torrent of water appeared in the air as Shirou could feel the atmosphere around him dehydrating. After a split second, the enormous body of water that surrounding his world came crashing down on him in an apocalyptic deluge.

Flaring his magical circuits, Shirou reinforced his entire body once again allowing him to bear the brunt of the water damage. Drawing on his inner reserves, he drew forth the power needed for his one and only form of magecraft.

I am the bone of my sword.

Imagining the concept.

Forging the blade.

Crystallizing the legend.

Come forth, the Unfading Light of the Lake, Arondlight!

A blade of pure white materialized into Shirou's hand as he gripped the handle gently.

Glimpsing the history of the blade, Shirou drew on the strength of the weapon's original owner – Lancelot du Lac. Greatest amongst the Knights of the Round Table, this was a man who had carved his blade's name into legend by pure skill at arms. Forged from the same divinity that is shared by its sister blade Excalibur, Arondlight was a divine construct said to be able to receive any attack without taking damage.

Having absorbed the skills of its previous master, Shirou drew Arondlight delivering a powerful slash that parted the torrent of water around him.

Gripping the blade tightly, he shot towards Tobirama arching the blade in a dangerous curve intent on bisecting the armored man.

Tobirama raised a wall of water in response, but the holy blade cut through the barrier as if it were only air. Shirou reinforced the blade even more as it tore into Tobirama from shoulder to hip leaving the Senju to fall backwards as his body struggled to heal the grievous wound.

Shirou spun just in time to face Hashirama who engaged the redhead with a flurry of jabs. Drawing on his sword's power once again, Shirou feinted left before spinning in a dance-like maneuver to deliver a matching blow across Hashirama's back.

By that time, Tobirama had recovered from his previous wounds and rejoined the fight with a spray of water bullets.

Weaving between each projectile, Shirou reinforced his legs before leaping at the Senju with an inhuman grace. He grabbed the water-user and threw him towards his recovering brother before appearing above both men to deliver an overhead blow that tore through both bodies.

Steel is my body and fire is my blood.

In his offhand, Shirou traced a small dagger with a curved blade. Before either brother could recover, he impaled the dagger into Tobirama's abdomen and used his reinforced strength to tear through the Senju burying the blade into his brother Hashirama.

Shirou smiled as the wounds refused to heal.

"Severing the contract – complete", said Shirou to himself as he activated the abilities of the curved dagger, Rule Breaker.

As the favored offhand of the Witch of Betrayal herself, Rule Breaker was a divine construct that contained anti-magic properties capable of destroying any form of thaumaturgy including magical contracts. By the power imbued in the blade, all magical energy that came into contact with the dagger would return to its original components. With chakra being a natural derivative of prana, the dagger was capable of negating the summoning contract that powered the Edo Tensei.

Shirou watched as the Senju brothers before him seemed to disintegrate before his eyes. Their once healthy skin quickly returned to the mottled shade of grey characteristic of the corpse used in their summoning. As the spirits returned to the pure world, all that was left in their place were two twisted cadavers that lay motionlessly on the ground before him.

Turning his attention to the ongoing battle between Orochimaru and the Sandaime, Shirou studied the condition of both fighters as he let Arondlight and Rule Breaker fade back into the void.

Things were not looking good for the elderly Sandaime.

Orochimaru was laughing as he dodged Hiruzen's ever increasingly desperate blows.

The snake-like man wielded a blade in his left hand which he used to parry Hiruzen's most powerful attacks while dodging the rest.

Before he could launch a counter-attack, Shirou propelled himself towards the two combatants intercepting a jab aimed at Hiruzen's shoulder.

Eyeing the blade, Shirou quickly traced the blade's history mentally.

Kusanagi no Tsurugi – a member of the Three Imperial Regalia of the Land of Fire. As a legendary blade, it has painted its place in history with the blood of its user's enemies. Its current owner, Orochimaru, favors a serpentine style of combat that utilizes the blade's double-edged nature to keep enemies at a distance.

Sending a burst of prana to his legs, Shirou purposely closed the distance between himself and Orochimaru negating the advantage of Kusanagi's longer reach.

Instantaneously tracing his favored twin blades, Kanshou and Bakuya, Shirou delivered two sweeping cuts at Orochimaru.

The traitorous Sannin dodged by contorting his body at painful angles and returned a blow with Kusanagi. However, Hiruzen had taken advantage of the distraction to attack Orochimaru from behind taking him for surprise.

Hiruzen's armored fist slammed into Orochimaru's back sending the Sannin tumbling across the roof.

Gasping for breath, Orochimaru desperately parried Shirou's follow-up strike with Bakuya.

The Snake Sannin evaluated his two opponents before coming to a split decision.

"I think I'll end our little battle here for today", rasped Orochimaru.

The pale man swept his eyes over the burning village in the background.

"Soon enough, I'll be back to finish what I've started" he spat, "For now, I'm leaving."

Orochimaru called to the shinobi maintaining the purple barrier encapsulating their battle. At his command, his servants released the barrier and the group began retreating backwards.

Shirou made a move to follow, but Hiruzen held up his hand tiredly.

"We need you more here. Please, if you will, we need help pushing the remaining foreign forces out of the village walls."

Nodding in acquiescence, Shirou picked up his blades once more and moved to join the waning battle below.

oOoOoOo

Three days later.

Shirou adjusted his cooking apron as a duo of eggs sizzled in the cast-iron pan in front of him.

It had been three days since Konoha had successfully repelled the Sand-Sound invasion, though it had come at a heavy price. In the aftermath, the Sandaime had offered Shirou a room at the Sarutobi Compound while everything settled down in the village. Without need to work or look for a place to stay, these last few days had left Shirou looking for a way to occupy his newly found free time.

Using a controlled flick of his wrist, Shirou flipped the eggs revealing a perfectly-browned underside; satisfied with the coloring, he began seasoning a batch of trout he was grilling on the side. He then switched his attention to a saucepan of bubbling water in front of him that he was planning to make miso out of.

Adding a small bowl of dashi into the water, Shirou began gently stirring the saucepan. After the dashi had mixed in, he dissolved two spoons of miso paste into the soup and reduced the stove to a medium heat while gently whisking. While the soup simmered, he finished the dish with some delicately sliced tofu garnished with a sprinkle of green onion.

Sampling a small spoon of broth, Shirou gave a contented sigh as the rich flavors of the miso warmed his taste buds.

"Aniki! Are you cooking again?"

Shirou turned his head as he watched an eight-year old Sarutobi Konohamaru ran into the kitchen chasing the delicious aromas emanating from the stove.

Shirou smiled as he caught the young boy by his shirt just as he was about to trip on his own scarf.

"Breakfast will be ready in a few minutes, Kono, why don't you set the plates and call your grandfather and uncle."

"Gotcha, Aniki!" responded Konohamaru as he raced from the kitchen to find the more lethargic members of the Sarutobi clan.

Just as Shirou finished plating the eggs and grilled fish while portioning the soup, Konohamaru returned dragging Asuma and Hiruzen into the kitchen by the hem of their shirts.

"Looks amazing as always, Shirou-san", yawned Asuma as he stretched his arms behind his back.

"Breakfast is always much appreciated, Shirou", smiled Hiruzen as he settled down to sample the soup.

After just one spoon, he gave a content sigh as Asuma and Konohamaru began piling eggs on top of their freshly steamed rice.

With a full mouth of rice, Konohamaru turned to Shirou, "Mmmmh ish really good!"

At a more sedate pace, Asuma also munched away happily, "Are you sure we can't hire you to stay here and become our chef?"

Shirou shook his head with a small smile on his face as he helped himself to a skewer of grilled fish.

"I like to imagine that I was a chef in a parallel universe…" responded Shirou as if sharing an inside joke.

With his food quickly decimated, Konohamaru got up waving at the adults in the room, "I gotta go now! I promised Moegi and Udon that I'd meet them at the park!" he said before running off excitedly.

Hiruzen waved him goodbye while pouring himself a fresh cup of green tea.

Asuma also brushed off his pants and stood up, "I've planned to meet my genin team at the training ground. I'll catch you two later." he said before sidling out of the room after Konohamaru.

Turning to the remaining person in the room, Hiruzen's expression turned more serious.

"Shirou, we need to talk."

Shirou put down his chopsticks and looked over at Hiruzen indicating that the man had his full attention.

"I know you had explained earlier that you aren't from around here, so I don't know how much you know about the political landscape of the Elemental Nations", started Hiruzen.

"Since the end of the Third Shinobi War, peace has been resting on a knife's edge between the five major hidden villages. Even then, reports have indicated that Iwagakure still harbors a large militant faction whilst Kumogakure has continually expanded their own territory through campaigns encroaching upon smaller border nations. I worry that the slightest spark could potentially trigger the fragile balance of power we have right now."

Shirou hummed worriedly, "What's specifically worrying you, Hiruzen?"

Hiruzen gave a tired sigh, "I've just received an update from my spymaster on Orochimaru's latest movements. He was seen in the Land of Grass hosting a delegation of Iwa shinobi. Inside reports say that he's been actively selling both weapons and information in return for an alliance with Iwagakure."

"Do you think that he can convince Iwa to acquiesce with his desire to attack Konoha in open war?" queried Shirou worriedly.

"The militant faction in Iwa has been gaining political power in recent years. They've always held an undying grudge against Konoha for their defeat in the Third Shinobi War, which spawned from their vendetta against our late Yondaime Hokage. I can only hope that the Third Tsuchikage, Onoki of the Twin Scales, is a more rational man than his advisors…"

Shirou bowed his head, "Then we can only hope this Onoki of the Twin Scales can hold back the brewing storm. If it comes to war between two great nations, then the land will be painted red in the blood of both shinobi and innocents."

Hiruzen was silent as he turned to look at the rising sun in the distance.

Shirou took a seat beside the aged man gripping him on the shoulder.

"I may not be a shinobi, but I will stand with you to face of the coming storm. The Throne of Heroes sent me here for a reason; you don't need to carry this heavy burden by yourself anymore."

Hiruzen nodded in appreciation as the two men sat in silence basking in the gentle morning sun from the gardens of the Sarutobi Compound.

Little did they know, it would be the last peaceful day that either would have for a long time.

End of Chapter 1.